Chapter 4: A Few Years Later, Trouble Again

Four years later and many things have changed in the wonderful village of Konoha. The Konoha 11 and Sasuke, who they had convinced to stay in the village, were all advanced to jounin and awaiting to get there team of genin. Shizune, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Anko, and Genma were all promoted to anbu. They also had their own children as well.

Shizune had moved out of Tsunade's house. Tsunade was a little upset since her and Shizune had been living together for most of their lives, but was happy since she was learning to live her own life instead of just shadowing Tsunade all the time.

Aya was now the youngest in her class at the academy. She was six years old and was taking her graduating examination today and she couldn't be more excited. Tsunade sighed ad she got ready to take Aya to the school. Aya ran up behind her and hugged her. " Mommy, hurry up!"

" We have another hour before we leave. Calm down."

Aya crossed her arms. She had grown taller in the past four years. Her hair was now a little longer and tied into one ponytail. She had also grown less patient, more stubborn, and had a temper that almost rivaled her mother's. " But we should get there earlier!"

Tsunade looked at her. " The academy will be there when we leave. Don't worry. Now, go get breakfast."

" I already did. I had some cereal."

" Geez, your really anxious aren't you. You do know that your probably going to graduate anyway. Your almost top in your class."

Aya rolled her eyes. " Yeah, but let's go anyway."

Tsunade smiled and pulled her daughter into a hug. " Alright we'll leave now, but only since I have to talk to the jounin about picking their teams."

" Who's gonna be my sensei?"

" I don't know. It'll be a surprise." She let her go and pat her head. " Let's go. Say good bye to your father."

Aya ran downstairs and gave Jiraiya a hug. " I'll see ya later at the graduation, right?"

" Of course." He kissed her forehead and watched her run to the front door to meet up with her mother.

The two of them left the house and went off to the academy. Tsunade left Aya with Shizune as she went to meet with the jounin. She entered one of the rooms in the academy and shut the door behind her. She looked at all of the jounin and smiled. " Good, your all here." She placed a paper on the table. " That's the list of the kids that you guys are going to train. Neji, I need to talk with you privately."

She walked up to the door and opened it. Neji followed behind her and closed the door behind him. " Yes, Tsunade-sama?"

" I didn't put you on the list. I need you to do a favor for me. I know you really don't like children, so I decided not to give you a team. Instead, I want you to just train one child and that's my daughter. So do you want to do it?"

Neji nodded. " Yes, that's fine. Actually, I like that idea better than having a team."

Tsunade smiled. " Thank you so much. I'll see you at the graduation then."

After the graduation, Jiraiya and Tsunade took Aya home. She had her leaf village headband across her forehead and practically skipped as they walked home.

Once at the house, Tsunade and Aya sat on the couch and waited for Jiraiya to make dinner. Aya sat in her mother's lap and played with her headband. " Mommy, when do I start training with Neji-sensei?"

" When he tells you. Now you better be good for him. It was nice of him to be your personal teacher, so behave yourself."

" I will I promise."

--

The next day, Tsunade sat at her office sipping a cup of tea. Shizune and Koharu opened her door and rushed up to her desk. Tsunade put her cup down. " Shizune, what happened?!"

Koharu handed Tsunade a paper. " This happened."

Tsunade took the paper and read it. It was a message from the Hidden village in the Stones, declaring war on Konoha. Tsunade looked at Koharu. " What?! We haven't dealt with them in years. Why are they bothering us now?"

Koharu looked at Tsunade and sighed. " There comes a time in every Hokage's term when a war stirs up. This is your first. Now the stone village and Konoha have been enemies silently for years. They have always been jealous of our strong Shinobi and power. It's no surprise that they have decided to declare war on us."

" When do they plan an attack?"

Shizune shook her head. " They don't say. This letter was basically a warning to get us prepared. It doesn't say a thing about when they plan to attack. They're probably planning a surprise attack."

Tsunade stood up. " Then we have to move now. Shizune, gather a team of anbu and stand guard at the front gates. Your the leader and inform Kakashi to form a team as well and patrol the village. I want every part of this village under a careful watch."

Shizune nodded and went off to do her task. Koharu looked as Tsunade. " Tsunade, are you sure you can handle this? It is your first war to lead."

" I'm a natural born leader. My grandfather was the First and my sensei was the Third. I'm also the leader and founder of Konoha's medical teams. I think I can handle this."

" At the cost of your daughter?"

Tsunade froze. " W-what?"

" News spreads quickly throughout the lands. Almost every village knows about your little girl. I wouldn't put it past them to sink low enough to threaten to kill your only child in order for you to hand over the village to them. Think about what you have to do, Tsunade. I know it's not the easiest decision, but you have to think about what's the best." With that said, Koharu left Tsunade thinking about what she just said.

Tsunade sat down on her chair and sighed. " What would I do if something like that would happen?"

She immediately thought about Nawaki and Dan. Could she risk loosing someone else that she loved?

She shook her head. " No. I won't let it happen again." She got up and walked to the door to go home.

Aya sat with Naruto playing video games. Jiraiya had went with Kakashi to patrol the village and left Naruto watching Aya. She frowned. " Aw, Naruto. You beat me again. No fair."

" Hey, not my fault I'm the video game master."

She nudged him and laughed. " You wish."

He stood up. " Stay here. I'm gonna get us something to snack on." He walked to the kitchen and left the girl sitting by herself.

" That's the Hokage's little girl right?"

" Yes. It looks just like the father." Two stone shinobi sat outside the window, watching Aya as she played her video games.

" Let's make our move, before they find us. Remember, we need to capture her alive."

" Right."

Just as they were about to open the window, the front door opened. Tsunade ran up to her daughter and hugged her. One of the shinobi bit his lip. " Damn, too late. We have to lay low until the Hokage leaves."

Aya smiled at Tsunade. " Mommy! Your home early."

Tsunade gave her a faint smile. She looked over to Naruto who was munching on some chips in a bowl. He held out to the bowl to Tsunade. " Want some Baa-chan?"

" No. I need to talk to you." She moved closer to Naruto. " We're entering a war real soon. I need you and the jounin to be watching everything carefully."

He nodded. " I know. Kakashi-sensei took Ero-Sennin to patrol the village with him. I heard everything from him."

Tsunade nodded. " Good. I'll watch Aya now. Just do what I told you to do."

Naruto nodded and went to do as he was told. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at her and Aya. " Baa-chan, we'll win."

She nodded. " Please be careful, Naruto."

Aya looked at Tsunade. " Mommy, what do I do?"

" Your staying with me. Your just a genin. I can't put you into battle yet. You haven't learned enough."

" But I-"

" Not yet Aya. You just graduated. I'm not putting you out there yet!"

Aya glared at her mother. " It's not fair! I can do it if I try."

Tsunade crossed her arms. " You haven't trained even one day with your sensei yet. I can just put an unprepared genin in to battle. You could get hurt or even worst killed! Do you understand me!?"

Aya looked at the floor and very silently whispered. " I hate you" before walking up to her room.

Tsunade sat on the couch and ran her hand through her hair. She closed her eyes and frowned. " Aya, it's for the better. Believe me."

--

Author's Note:

Alright, so it's a short chapter. It's a beginning to the plot. So yeah. Sorry this one took so long. I was just being lazy for a while. Heh, it's my fault. So, I'll try and update quicker next chapter. So yeah I have another idea for a fanfic, but I can't start that one until I finish this one and I hope to finish this one by the end of May. My next fanfic is a summer theme, that's why I hope I can get this one done by May. I'll see what I do. Here's the preview:

Aya is upset about Tsunade not letting her fight, but gets over it when she goes off to her first day of training. Jiraiya is with Tsunade in her office trying to help her with the war when they find out that the attack has begun. Jiraiya and Tsunade rush to prepare for the worst when they find that Aya is nowhere to be found. Could Tsunade's worst nightmare have come true? Find out next time in chapter five: Gone Without a Trace.

Sayonara!